Methods and systems for providing personal shopping services

ABSTRACT

A method and system for providing personal shopping assistance via a computing device includes hosting a database of information regarding a customer, hosting a database of information regarding a personal shopper, and associating the customer with the personal shopper. The personal shopper is provided the ability to recommend at least one of a product or a service relevant to the customer and receiving an indication of the purchase of the recommended product or service by the customer. An incentive system may provide a reward to the personal shopper based upon the purchased product or service, including a commission or other reward. The system may be implemented on a desktop and/or mobile device as desired to provide flexibility in implementation.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present description relates generally to incentive basedpersonalized shopping, and more particularly to methods and systems forproviding personal shopping services.

BACKGROUND OF RELATED ART

Personal shopping services have traditionally been provided by anin-store sales associate, or by the hiring of a personal assistant. Forinstance, in a traditional situation, a customer enters a retailestablishment and proceeds to ask a sales associate for assistance. Thecustomer may have no preconceived notion of what they wish to buy andmay utilize in-store assistance and/or personal advice to make apurchase. In still other situations, the customer may have an idea ofthe purchase they wish to make, and yet may still rely upon in-storepersonal assistance to make additional and/or other purchases based uponany number of factors including the associates recommendations, sales,advice, etc.

In a traditional on-line ecommerce setting, a customer visiting anon-line store front receives little or no assistance regarding theirshopping experience. Moreover, receiving personal expertise from a salesassociate that understands and knows a customer's likes/dislikes,trends, attitudes, etc. is difficult at best. Thus, in order to enhancethe on-line experience, some on-line retailers have begun to provideadditional enhancements to their shopping experience. For example, somewebsites provide customers with sales ranking, similar sales, on-linereviews, textual chats, etc. to assist an on-line customer in makingpurchase decisions.

These enhancements, however, are oftentimes generic in nature (e.g.,what are the overall customer base trends) and do little to assist abuyer on a personal level. What is more, the customer may actually feelput off by the trends of other shoppers as the sophisticated consumercan typically recognize when a recommendation is impersonal and/or theywish to counter the prevailing style.

For example, US Patent Publication No. 2009/0132341 provides for asystem and method of advertising utilizing user generated content. Inparticular, the method provides for a shift from a model of vendorshawking their own wares to a model of users promoting and sellingproducts that the personally find valuable or useful, and rewardingthose users selling goods according to the number of generated sales. Ingeneral, users with higher quality feedback will receive higher fees forexecuting product placements. The disclosed system, however, does notprovide for a personalized shopping experience, but rather incentives anassociate to peddle the most likely to sell product, thereby maximizingsales exposure regardless of the truly personal needs of the endconsumer.

While the background systems and methods identified herein, generallywork for their intended purpose, the subject invention providesimprovements thereto, particularly by providing systems and methodsprovide for a personalized shopping experiences by tapping into aconsumer's social network of individuals who know and understand theconsumer on a personal level.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the present disclosure, reference may behad to various examples shown in the attached drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates in block diagram form components of an example,computer network environment suitable for implementing the exampleservice call systems disclosed.

FIG. 2A illustrates an example personal shopping system in accordancewith the present disclosure.

FIG. 2B illustrates an example system for providing personal shoppingvia a mobile device.

FIG. 3 illustrates a wire diagram of an example system for a providingpersonal shopping in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an example process of the disclosedpersonal shopping system in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example user interface for registering a personalshopper with the example personal shopping system in accordance with thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example user interface for requesting to become apersonal shopper in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example user interface for receiving confirmationof the request to become a personal shopper in accordance with thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example user interface for displaying aninvitation to become a personal shopper in accordance with the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 9A-9B together illustrate example user interfaces that displayinformation regarding becoming a personal shopper with the examplepersonal shopping system in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example user interface providing a congratulatorymessage regarding registration with the example personal shopping systemin accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example user interface for registering a personalshopper with the example personal shopping system in accordance with thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 12 illustrates another example user interface for registering apersonal shopper with the example personal shopping system in accordancewith the present disclosure by providing tax information.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example user interface for inviting anassociation of a customer with the personal shopper in accordance withthe present disclosure.

FIGS. 14A-14C together illustrate an example user interface forreceiving a guided tour of the features of the example personal shoppingsystem in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example user interface for administeringinvitation from the personal shopper to a customer with the examplepersonal shopping system in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIGS. 16A and 16B together illustrate an example process by whichcontacts are utilized to create invitations from the personal shopper toa customer with the example personal shopping system in accordance withthe present disclosure.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example contact list generated by the process ofFIGS. 16A and 16B.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example invitation email that may be utilized toinvite an association between the customer and the personal shopper withthe example personal shopping system in accordance with the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example user interface for displaying aninvitation to become a customer in accordance with the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 20 illustrates an example user interface for requesting to become acustomer in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 21 illustrates another example user interface for requesting tobecome a customer in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 22 illustrates an example user interface to allow a personalshopper to manage their associations with various customers.

FIG. 23 illustrates an example user interface displaying informationrelevant to the interests of a customer.

FIG. 24 illustrates an example user interface to display communicationinformation between a customer and a personal shopper.

FIG. 25 illustrates an example user interface to create and display apersonalized catalog for a customer.

FIG. 26 illustrates an example user interface to display a communicationsession between a personal shopper and a customer.

FIGS. 27A and 27B together illustrate an example user interface todisplay a communication session between a customer and a personalshopper.

FIG. 28 illustrates an example user interface to display a product addedto a personal catalog.

FIG. 29 illustrates an example user interface to display an examplecheckout of a product by a customer.

FIG. 30 illustrates an example user interface to display a listing ofcommissions due to a personal shopper based upon customer purchases.

FIG. 31 illustrates an example user interface to display an accountmanager administration process.

FIG. 32 illustrates an example user interface to display a communicationsession between an account manager and a personal shopper.

FIG. 33 illustrates an example user interface to display a communicationsession between an account manager and a plurality of personal shoppers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description of example methods and systems is not intendedto limit the scope of the description to the precise form or formsdetailed herein. Instead the following description is intended to beillustrative so that others may follow its teachings.

A personal shopper application is explained hereinbelow. In general, theapplication allows for the formation of a connection between a salesassociate and a consumer for the purposes of forming a personalizedshopping experience. The disclosed invention leverages sales associates'and/or consumers' social connections, such as through a social mediawebsite, to enable each personal shopper to provide the highest possiblecustomer service to each of there associated consumers. In this example,the system may leverage a retail establishment's online product catalog,which is oftentimes larger than an in-store inventory) to provide thepersonal shopper the ability to offer a vast assortment of goods andcapabilities. Specifically, the more a personal shopper knows about theproducts and services, and their customers, the more they can influencetheir network to consider an associated in-store and/or on-line retailestablishment.

In the example systems and methods disclosed, a personal shopperidentifies potential people within their social network that may beinterested in being a personal client. Alternatively, a client mayrequest the services of the personal shopper through recommendations,knowledge, social networking, etc. Once the relationship is formed, themore products that the personal shopper's network buys based upon theirrecommendations, the more potential there is for the personal shopper toearn a reward, such as for example, reward points, items, and/or cash.

In order to accomplish the consummation and development of the personalshopper an customer relationship, the present disclosure provides thepersonal shopper with the tools necessary to provide their services totheir network of clients through at least the use of social media. Forinstance, the present system allows existing customers to be engaged byproviding relevant, personal recommendations generated through socialnetworking, thereby increasing the value to both the customer and theshopper.

In the present disclosure, both online and offline activities may beinfluenced by the personal shopper. In other words, both online andretail purchases may be influence and tracked by the system. Stillfurther, the online and/or offline tracking may be within the corporateestablishment or may be within a network of establishments throughpartnerships, cooperation, etc. The social interaction may be used byeither of the personal shopper and/or the consumer for ecommerce, socialmedia, retail, multichannel retail, mobile, and tablet enhancements aswell as the gamification of a customer experience (e.g., viralmarketing, campaigning, gaming, funware, etc.). In one example, theapplication enables a customer to find and communicate with a personalsales associate based upon the customer likes/dislikes, needs, want,location, purchase intentions, etc. The system allows a one-to-one,one-to-many, and/or a many-to-many communication and/or hierarchicalscheme to accomplish a higher level of customer satisfaction and repeatpatronage.

In this system, the personal shopper (e.g., the sales associate) may bean expert, question and answer provider, merchandise associate, friend,acquaintance, etc., to provide information regarding a consumer'sintended purchase. Still further, in some examples, the applicationallows a personal shopper to proactively contact and/or otherwisecommunicate with their network to proactively and/or reactively providemerchandise suggestions. In other words, the system allows a personalshopper to push content to their clients when they know the client maybe interested. The present application provides may provide specificpersonal shopping assistance through any suitable electronic device,including, for instance through any suitable mobile device.

In one example, the system provides the use of commodity hardware, offthe shelf software, OS independent applications, form factor independentdevices (PC, tablets, smart phones etc), media independent (voice, text,video) and cloud based infrastructure to run all functionalities of thepresent system. In the context of a service establishment, such as, forexample, a retail store this is specifically very useful as a customercan utilize familiar technologies and receive relate and personalizedsupport, assistance, product demos, suggestions, etc., which can behandled by the personal shopper who has the most expertise and relevantinformation and who are familiar with their clients needs and/orpurchasing needs.

The disclosed methods and systems may be part of an overall shoppingexperience system created to enhance the consumer shopping event. In oneexample, the disclosed personal shopping network is integrated with thecustomer's reward system, the customers social network (e.g., thecustomer can post their shopping activity conducted through the systemto their social network), the customer's expert system, digital/mobileapplications, shopping history, wish list, location, merchandiseselections, or the like. It will be appreciated, however, by one ofordinary skill in the art that the system disclosed may be fully and/orpartially integrated with any suitable shopping system as desired,including those not mentioned and/or later designed.

With reference to the figures, the following discloses various examplesystems and methods for providing personal shopping assistance on acomputer network, such as a mobile device. To this end, a processingdevice 20″, illustrated in the exemplary form of a mobile communicationdevice, a processing device 20′, illustrated in the exemplary form of acomputer system, and a processing device 20 illustrated in schematicform, are provided with executable instructions to, for example, providea means for a customer, e.g., a user, client, personal shopper,customer, buyer, consumer, etc., to access a host system server 68 and,among other things, be connected to a hosted social networking site, auser profile, a sales associate, a personal shopper, and/or a client.Generally, the computer executable instructions reside in programmodules which may include routines, programs, objects, components, datastructures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the artwill appreciate that the processing devices 20, 20′, 20″ illustrated inFIG. 1 may be embodied in any device having the ability to executeinstructions such as, by way of example, a personal computer, amainframe computer, a personal-digital assistant (“PDA”), a cellulartelephone, a mobile device, a tablet, an ereader, or the like.Furthermore, while described and illustrated in the context of a singleprocessing device 20, 20′, 20″ those of ordinary skill in the art willalso appreciate that the various tasks described hereinafter may bepracticed in a distributed environment having multiple processingdevices linked via a local or wide-area network whereby the executableinstructions may be associated with and/or executed by one or more ofmultiple processing devices.

For performing the various tasks in accordance with the executableinstructions, the example processing device 20 includes a processingunit 22 and a system memory 24 which may be linked via a bus 26. Withoutlimitation, the bus 26 may be a memory bus, a peripheral bus, and/or alocal bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. As needed for anyparticular purpose, the system memory 24 may include read only memory(ROM) 28 and/or random access memory (RAM) 30. Additional memory devicesmay also be made accessible to the processing device 20 by means of, forexample, a hard disk drive interface 32, a magnetic disk drive interface34, and/or an optical disk drive interface 36. As will be understood,these devices, which would be linked to the system bus 26, respectivelyallow for reading from and writing to a hard disk 38, reading from orwriting to a removable magnetic disk 40, and for reading from or writingto a removable optical disk 42, such as a CD/DVD ROM or other opticalmedia. The drive interfaces and their associated computer-readable mediaallow for the nonvolatile storage of computer-readable instructions,data structures, program modules, and other data for the processingdevice 20. Those of ordinary skill in the art will further appreciatethat other types of non-transitory computer-readable media that canstore data and/or instructions may be used for this same purpose.Examples of such media devices include, but are not limited to, magneticcassettes, flash memory cards, digital videodisks, Bernoulli cartridges,random access memories, nano-drives, memory sticks, and other read/writeand/or read-only memories.

A number of program modules may be stored in one or more of thememory/media devices. For example, a basic input/output system (BIOS)44, containing the basic routines that help to transfer informationbetween elements within the processing device 20, such as duringstart-up, may be stored in ROM 28. Similarly, the RAM 30, hard drive 38,and/or peripheral memory devices may be used to store computerexecutable instructions comprising an operating system 46, one or moreapplications programs 48 (such as a Web browser), other program modules50, and/or program data 52. Still further, computer-executableinstructions may be downloaded to one or more of the computing devicesas needed, for example via a network connection.

To allow a user to enter commands and information into the processingdevice 20, input devices such as a keyboard 54 and/or a pointing device56 are provided. While not illustrated, other input devices may includea microphone, a joystick, a game pad, a scanner, a camera, touchpad,touch screen, etc. These and other input devices would typically beconnected to the processing unit 22 by means of an interface 58 which,in turn, would be coupled to the bus 26. Input devices may be connectedto the processor 22 using interfaces such as, for example, a parallelport, game port, firewire, or a universal serial bus (USB). To viewinformation from the processing device 20, a monitor 60 or other type ofdisplay device may also be connected to the bus 26 via an interface,such as a video adapter 62. In addition to the monitor 60, theprocessing device 20 may also include other peripheral output devices,not shown, such as, for example, speakers, cameras, printers, or othersuitable device.

As noted, the processing device 20 may also utilize logical connectionsto one or more remote processing devices, such as the host system server68 having associated data repository 68A. In this regard, while the hostsystem server 68 has been illustrated in the exemplary form of acomputer, it will be appreciated that the host system server 68 may,like processing device 20, be any type of device having processingcapabilities. Again, it will be appreciated that the host system server68 need not be implemented as a single device but may be implemented ina manner such that the tasks performed by the host system server 68 aredistributed amongst a plurality of processing devices/databases locatedat different geographical locations and linked through a communicationnetwork. Additionally, the host system server 68 may have logicalconnections to other third party systems via a network 12, such as, forexample, the Internet, LAN, MAN, WAN, cellular network, cloud network,enterprise network, virtual private network, wired and/or wirelessnetwork, or other suitable network, and via such connections, will beassociated with data repositories that are associated with such otherthird party systems. Such third party systems may include, withoutlimitation, systems of banking, credit, or other financial institutions,systems of third party providers of goods and/or services, systems ofshipping/delivery companies, etc.

For performing tasks as needed, the host system server 68 may includemany or all of the elements described above relative to the processingdevice 20. In addition, the host system server 68 would generallyinclude executable instructions for, among other things, coordinating apersonal shopper relationship, providing a social network, storing auser's personal information, facilitating recommendations, providingaccess to merchandise, etc.

Communications between the processing device 20 and the host systemserver 68 may be exchanged via a further processing device, such as anetwork router (not shown), that is responsible for network routing.Communications with the network router may be performed via a networkinterface component 73. Thus, within such a networked environment, e.g.,the Internet, World Wide Web, LAN, cloud, or other like type of wired orwireless network, it will be appreciated that program modules depictedrelative to the processing device 20, or portions thereof, may be storedin the non-transitory memory storage device(s) of the host system server68.

Referring to FIG. 2A, there is illustrated an overview of an examplepersonal shopping system 200 in accordance with an example of thepresent disclosure. The system 200 is well-suited for operation on adistributed network system, such as, for example, the Internet, cloud,mobile network, cellular network, or other suitable wired and/orwireless network. The system 200 may be implemented in various othercommunication networks and/or mediums as desired including, for example,a localized, non-distributed network.

Generally speaking, the system 200 is operable to facilitate a personalshopping relationship between a sales associate and a customer. Forinstance, in the illustrated example, a sales associate 210 (e.g., apersonal shopper, etc) develops and/or otherwise formalizes a salesrelationship with a plurality of customers 220 (e.g., user, consumer,shopper, etc.) having need and/or desire of assistance. In one exampledisclosed, the sales relationship may be commission based. The system200 may include a plurality of sales associates 210 servicing the needsof multiple customers 220. The sales associates may be employees of theorganization sponsoring the system 200, or may alternatively be outsideof employment of the organization such as, for instance a contractedassociate. In the example illustrated in FIG. 2A, the sales associatesare outside of the employment of the retail establishment, and are inturn serviced and/or supported by at least one account manager 230 who,in this example, is an employee of a retail establishment 237.Additionally, as noted above, the system 200 supports one-to-one,one-to-many, and many-to-many relationship architectures.

Turning now to FIG. 2B, there is illustrated another example of thepersonal shopping system 200 described above. In this illustration, thesystem 200 allows the personal shopper 210 and the consumers 220 toutilize the devices 20 to connect to the host server 68. The host server68 meanwhile creates a virtual connection between the personal shopper210 and multiple customers 220. As described, the system 200 providessignificant technical support to both the customer 220 and the personalshopper 210 such as, for example, by providing access to and utilizing asocial network 68′, such as for example, a retail specific socialnetwork and by providing access to venue and personal information,promotional database information, and product database informationstored on the data repository 68A. Additionally, the system 200 mayallow additional users to vote, comment, recommend, and/or otherwiseprovide input into the personal shopping experience.

As illustrated in more detail in FIG. 3, in this example, the personalshopper 210 may access the system 200 through any suitable device, suchas a computer system 310, a smart phone 312, a tablet computer 314, orany other suitable known or yet to be developed communication device. Inthe disclosed example, the communication device is capable of videotransmission (e.g., video chat, video phone, etc), but it will beappreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the communicationdevice may be any suitable communication device including any voice,email, and/or text communication without use of video transmission. Oncethe personal shopping relationship is established, the system 200 isaccessed through the network(s) 12 to the host server 68. In thisexample, the personal shopper accesses the system 68 through a separatenetwork 12 than the consumer's network access, but it will beappreciated that the network access may be architected in any suitablemanner. Each of the network(s) 12 provide network routing of theutilizing a cloud based network, although any appropriate routing device(software, firmware, hardware, and/or the like) may be utilized. Thepersonal shopper access then routed to the consumer 220 as necessary oneexample of which will be described below. The connection to the consumer220 may be through the network 12, through the social network 68′,and/or through the host system 68. Each of the consumers, meanwhile mayaccess the system 200 with any suitable access device including acomputer 334, a smart phone 336, a tablet computer 338, or any otherdevice.

The illustrated approach may take advantage of the convergence of mobiledevices, IP telephony (e.g., VoIP, SIP, etc) and Internet applicationsuch as, for example, Facetime, Skype, etc. The example call centersystem may also enable interactive communications amongst personalshoppers, customers, retail associates and partners, etc, across variedplatforms, (e.g., iOS, Android, Windows, etc.), devices (e.g., Mobilephones, PCs, Macs, Tablets, etc), networks (e.g., Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, etc.),and media (e.g., voice, text, video, etc).

Turning now to FIG. 4, to provide the personal shopper 210 with thecapability to obtain clients, service clients, and receive commissions,the system 200 includes a registration and management process 400. Inthis example, the process 400 begins with a registration process at ablock 410. The registration process is an introduction to the system 200and includes information regarding required to become part of thepersonal shopping network such as personal information, acceptance ofterms and conditions, tax information (for commission based systems) andthe like. Typically, the registration step will include the ability tocull the personal shoppers already existing social media accounts and/orelectronic address book to suggest various clients for inclusion in theperson shopper's network.

Once the registration process is complete, the process 400 continueswith an invite process at block 420. As noted the invite process mayinclude the culling of already existing contacts, and/or may provide thepersonal shopper the ability to manually invite clients, or browse alisting of participating people whom the personal shopper may know toinvite those clients as well. The system 200 strives to create aPersonal Shopper program that connects the personal shopper 210 withfriends, who similarly care where and with whom the personal shoppershops and who take the initiative to find all of the items the clientneeds using the full breadth of our properties and services stored inthe data repository 68A. The system 200 enables sales entrepreneurs tobuild their own business around service-minded value and socialinfluence.

In one example, the system 200 may leverage socially-connectedindividuals (personal shoppers 210) who receive a commissions on theirfriends' spending, such as for example, a one-percent commission onregular purchases, and a two percent commission on purchase throughnetworks with twenty or more clients. The system 200 may providecommission specials that vary based upon any number of factors includingtime based, product based, category based, etc. As noted, the primarysource of personal shopping clients is the personal shoppers existingsocial networks 68′. As also noted, the system 200 also assigns vettedleads to proven shoppers who are system 200 members as a benefit, whilerecognizing top performers and managing turnover from the start withtransparent metrics.

Once the personal shopping and client relationship is established, thepersonal shopper 210 then proceeds to manage their clients 220 at block430. For example, the personal shopper may utilize the server 68, thedata repository 68A and the social media site 68′ to provide each of theclients with personal and/or semi-personal services, including, forinstance, education (product, trends, etc), training (e.g., use ofproducts, improvements, etc.), provide and/or receive feedback onpurchases and/or preferences, and/or to empowerment of the personalshopper to make all or a limited amount of purchases on the customer'sbehalf. By adding the social media aspect 68′ the described personalshopping system 200 may become viral, fun, and/or competitive (e.g.,leader boards, etc.). Moreover, the system 200 may track the best and/ormost active personal shoppers and suggest connections between variouscustomers based upon metric and analyzed performances.

For example, the system 200 may provide customer profile management andanalysis. These analytical tools may include a log of clientcommunications and actions; profile data fields; click to chat, etc. Thesystem 200 may also provide an activity feed and an activity plannerthat includes a listing of recent client actions and checkins (e.g.,customer locations, etc.). By providing these analytic tools, each ofthe personal shoppers know where they stand in context on strategic andbottom-line metrics. The system 20 provides for a messaging system suchas a mobile component, which may integrate with mobile, online chat,email, etc. Finally, the system 200 may provide the capability to postactivity to the social network 68′ and share activity and successes toalert friends when we personal shoppers offer great service thatgenerates value for themselves and their clients.

In some examples, in order to reward top performing individuals, thepersonal shopper 210 may receive a high-spending qualifying clientwithout needing to have a personal connection. In this instance, thesystem 200 manages these opportunities by messaging the opportunity toVIP members as a special benefit to being one of the system's 200 mostvaluable members. In these instances, the VIP members may be providedwith the capability to schedule a private chat or conversation with thepersonal shopper 210 before deciding to accept the invitation, to rejectit entirely, or to request a different personal shopper. The system,therefore, uses analytics to match VIP members and personal shoppersbased on location and shopping interests. Additionally, the system maytarget top performing personal shoppers with fewer than a predeterminedamount of clients (e.g., 50 clients), so that they are able to give VIPmembers a high level of attention. In still other example, the system200 allows a customer 220 to request a particular personal shopper 210,but they would not be guaranteed one. For instance, in oneimplementation, access is prioritized towards those who have apre-existing connection or are likely to be extremely valuable customers(e.g., VIPs) for the personal shopper 210.

By managing their client base, the personal shopper 210 is capable ofproviding a personal shopping experience to the client 220 at a block440. In this instance, the personal shopper 210 can view clients'interests, view recent activity, build and maintain personal catalogs,review various brands, examine cliques and various trends, examine storeinventory, including new inventory, etc, and look at recommendation fromvarious friends, etc.

To provide the ability to provide a personal shopping experience, thesystem 200 provides for a robust system of notifications. For example,the system 200 may allow the personal shopper 210 to “push” emails,texts, and/or other communications to the clients 220. Obviously, theclient 220 may also communicate directly with the personal shopper 210,requesting assistance, services, etc. Additionally, either the personalshopper 210 or the clients 220 may be able to create a customizedcatalog of products that may be of interest and provide the catalog tothe other partner for comment and/or advice. Additionally, whileutilizing the system 200, the user interface may provide a listing ofclients and/or friends that are currently online, and additionally allowa select group of individuals to go on a virtual shopping trip togetherthrough browser sharing.

Once the personal shopping stage has been completed, it is up to theclient 220 to decide if they wish to make the ultimate purchase of therecommended goods at block 450. By choosing a recommended product, theultimate purchase is credited to the personal shopper ands is eligiblefor a reward. As with any sales opportunity, if the consumer 220 decidesnot to make the purchase, the personal shopper 210 may edit, redefine,select, etc., different products for recommendation to the consumer 220based upon feedback and/or changing circumstances in order to entice theclient 220 to make a final purchase.

Once the purchase has been made, however, the purchase is credited tothe personal shopper account at a block 460. In this example, the system200 provides a reward such as a commission based upon the total purchaseprice. In one implementation, the commission may be a one-percentcommission, but the reward may be tied to any incentive programincluding, for example, reward points, promotional items, gifts, cash,discounts, etc.

In order to implement the system 200, a plurality of user interfaces maybe displayed to the consumer 220 and the personal shopper 210 asillustrated in FIGS. 5-33. Specifically, referring first to FIG. 5, anexample user interface 500 for beginning the registering and managementof personal shoppers is shown. The user interface 500 provides apotential personal shopper with information regarding the program, aswell as the ability to receive information from a list of frequentlyasked questions. The interface 500 also allows the personal shopper theability to accept and/or request an invitation to become a personalshopper.

Referring to FIGS. 6-7, once the personal shopper 210 accepts and/orrequests an invitation, the system may generate user interfaces 600 and700 which request information from the personal shopper 210 and confirmthat the invitation has been sent to the proper location for processing.FIG. 8 illustrates one example of an invitation 800 that may be receivedfrom the system 200 inviting the personal shopper 200 to join. FIG.9A-9B illustrate various additional example of the user interface 500illustrating the beginning page for the registration process.

Once the personal shopper 210 receives confirmation of registration, thepersonal shopper 210 is provided with a welcome screen embodied in auser interface 1000 as shown in FIG. 10. With the user interface 1000,the shopper 210 is presented with the ability to sign into their accountand begin using the system 200. In order to proceed with theregistration process, the shopper is provided with a series of screen asillustrated in FIGS. 11-13. For example, as shown in FIG. 11, a userinterface 1100 provides the shopper 210 with the required ability toaccept the terms and conditions of membership. As seen, a navigation bar1110 may be provided to assist the shopper 210 in navigating the systemscreens. Once the terms and conditions are excepted, user interfaces1200 and 1210 are provided to the shopper 210 to allow the shopper toprovide the required US tax forms for receipt of payment. Of course, itwill be appreciated that in the instance where payments are not rewardedto the personal shopper, or where the tax forms are not required, theinterfaces 1200 and 1210 may be eliminated as desired.

In order to finalize the registration process, the personal shopper isprovided with a user interface 1300 that will allow the shopper 210 toinvite their friends to become clients as will be described later. Uponcompleting the invitation process, or alternatively upon skipping theprocess in favor of completing the invitation process later, the shopper210 is provided with an optional tour of some of the features of thepresent system 200 as illustrated in FIGS. 14A-14C. In this example, adisplay 1400 welcome the shopper and teaches the shopper 210 how to usethe application features to serve their clients. For example, a display1410 and a display 1420 introduce the shopper to the catalog feature ofthe present system, which as described above allows the shopper 210 tocreate a unique list of products, tailored to their clients' needs andinterests. As illustrated the catalog process includes the steps ofcreating a new catalog; adding products to the catalog, adding productcomments to let the client know why the shopper chose the item, andadding the client to the catalog such that they can view therecommendations. As previously noted, the products may be available onthe data repository 68A, or alternatively may be available fromadditional locations, such as other websites, retail locations, etc.

Upon completion of the tour, the personal shopper 210 is presented withan interface 1500 to begin the invitation process as shown in FIG. 15.In the illustrated example, the user may make invitations via email,yahoo, Gmail, and/or another suitable email and/or social networksystem. As shown in FIGS. 16A and 16B, the system 200 may importcontacts using the industry-standard open authorization (OAuth)interface provided by most email providers.

This authorization requires the shopper to sign into their email accountat interface 1600, and to authorize personal access to the email accountin interface 1610. Once the proper authorizations are granted, thecontact are imported and displayed to the personal shopper 210 forinclusion in an invite, such as illustrated by the interface 1700 inFIG. 17.

As the list of invitees is finalized, an editable, template email 1800may be displayed to the personal shopper 210 for inviting clients tojoin their network. As noted, the email 1800 may display the selectedcontacts and allow the shopper 210 to edit and personalize their emailmessage. The email will provide instructions to the customer 220 to jointhe specific personal shopper's network. An example invite email 1900 asreceived by the customer 220 is illustrated in FIG. 19.

For registering and configuring the customer 220 to have a relationshipwith their personal shopper 210, FIGS. 20-21. Similar to theregistration process of the personal shopper 210, the customer 220provides the system 200 with login information at a user interface 2000and similarly agrees to the terms and conditions as desired at a userinterface 2100. While not illustrated in the current application, itwill be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the consumer220 may also take a tour of the system 200 similar to the tour taken bythe personal shopper 210.

To provide a user interface to manage and service the customers 220, thesystem 200 provides for a series of example user interfaces asillustrated in FIGS. 22-27. For instance, FIG. 22 provides for a userinterface 2200 that allows a personal shopper 210 to view each of theirregistered customers 220 (e.g., clients). The interface 2200 may providefor an overview of he client's activity as well as a link to theclient's page and/or retail associate 230. Once a specific client isselected, the system 200 may display information regarding the client(e.g., a profile), including, for instance, the client's interests at aninterface 2300, as illustrated in FIG. 23. It will be appreciated thatthe interests and/or history may be provided by the client and/or culledfrom the client's online and/or offline activity through variousdata-mining techniques.

Additionally, to allow contact with the client, a user interface 2400may be provided as illustrated in FIG. 24. The example interface 2400provides email communications through a push or pull paradigm, andfurthermore allows video, text, chat, voice, messaging as desired. Theinterface 2400 may further prove status updates to allow he personalshopper 210 the ability to track application usage by their customer220.

As previously noted, the system 200 allows a personal shopper 210 theability to create personal catalogs and/or shopping lists for each oftheir customers 220. As illustrated in FIG. 25, a user interface 2500includes an example catalog for a customer 220. In this example, thepersonal shopper has identified that their client desires arefrigerator, and accordingly, the personal shopper 210 has identifiedfive possible refrigerators in the catalog as shown in an interface2510. By selecting one of the refrigerators in the catalog, additionalinformation regarding the product may be shown in the interface 2500.The system 200 may also provide a link to related catalogs at aninterface 2520, and/or allow the personal shopper 210, the customer 220,and/or other the ability to comment on the catalog at an interface 2530.It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art the while thecatalog page is directed to a refrigerator, the catalog may be anysuitable related and/or unrelated set of products and/or services asdesired.

As shown in FIG. 26, meanwhile, to provide the personal shopper 210 andthe customer 220 the ability to chat, email, and/or otherwise discussareas of interest, the system 200 may be provided with a user interface2600. As shown, the interface 2600 allows the personal shopper 210 andthe customer 220 the ability to post comments, links, share information,ideas, etc. as desired. As can be seen, this allows a personal shopper210 to understand and respond to the customer's needs in a logical andexpedited manner. For instance, as illustrated in FIGS. 27A and 27B, auser interface 2700 displays the inline/offline status of the customers220. The personal shopper can chat with the customer, share browsingthrough either a computer and/or mobile device. When the personalshopper 210 shares browsing with the customer 220, both parties mustagree to allow the other to watch the session for privacy reasons. Whilesharing browsing, the client and shopper will both see the sameInternet/shopping page and both parties can chat about what they areviewing and make recommendations, comments, suggestions, etc.Additionally, as illustrated in FIG. 28, a user interface 2800 mayprovide the personal shopper 210 with detailed information regarding thecustomer's likes, wants, and/or must haves to better provide service tothat customer.

To provide the ability to complete a purchase, the system 200 mayprovide a user interface 2900 such as, for example, a traditionalshopping-cart checkout model. While not provided on the exampleinterface 2900, the checkout confirmation interface 2900 may includeinformation regarding the relationship between the customer 220 and thepersonal shopper 210, as well as a summary of nay rewards (e.g., points)due to the customer 220 for completing the purchase.

Upon purchase by the customer 220, the system 200 may be capable ofdisplaying an interface 3000 to the personal shopper 210 including asummary of each of the qualified purchases associated with the personalshopper 210, such as illustrated in FIG. 30. In the example interface,the personal shopper 210 is presented with a listing of each qualifiedpurchase including the client name, the order date, the order amount,the commission calculation, and the commission amount, for example. Inat least some examples, at least one of the list fields is selectable toprovide the personal shopper 210 with additional information regardingthe transaction.

In order to provide the account manger 230 with oversight of thepersonal shopping experience, the system 200 may provide the accountmanager with a similar set of interfaces as the personal shopper 210 andthe customer 220. For example, as illustrated in FIGS. 31-33, theaccount manager may be provided with an interface 3100 listing thepersonal shoppers 210 that the account manager supports. Each of thelisted entries in the interface 3100 may be selected to provide theaccount manager 230 additional information regarding the personalshoppers profile and/or performance.

For example, to provide support to the personal shopper 210, theinterface 3200 may allow a conversation to take place between theaccount manager 230 and the personal shopper 210 as is known in the art.In this example, the interface 3200 provides a traditional chatmechanism to receive, send, and/or answer question to/from the personalshopper 210. Finally, as illustrated in FIG. 33, the system 200 allowsthe account manager the ability to email all of their personal shoppers210 at once, providing the ability to disseminate pertinent informationto multiple recipients as necessary.

Although certain example methods and apparatus have been describedherein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. Onthe contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus, and articles ofmanufacture fairly falling within the scope of the appended claimseither literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.

We claim:
 1. A computer-readable media having stored thereon computerexecutable instructions, wherein the instructions perform steps forproviding personal shopping assistance via a computing device,comprising: hosting a database of information regarding a customer;hosting a database of information regarding a personal shopper;associating the customer with the personal shopper; determining arecommendation by the personal shopper of at least one of a product or aservice relevant to the customer; receiving an indication of a purchaseof the recommended product or service by the customer; and providing areward to the personal shopper based upon the purchased product orservice.
 2. A computer-readable media as defined in claim 1, furthercomprising determining a personalized catalog of products including therecommended product or service;
 3. A computer-readable media as definedin claim 1, wherein the reward is a commission based upon the sale priceof the recommended product or service.
 4. A computer-readable media asdefined in claim 1, wherein associating the customer with the personalshopper includes a determination of the connection between the customerand the personal shopper.
 5. A computer-readable media as defined inclaim 4, wherein the determination of the connection between thecustomer and the personal shopper comprises a social connections.
 6. Acomputer-readable media as defined in claim 5, wherein the socialconnection is determined through the query of a social mediaapplication.
 7. A computer-readable media as defined in claim 1, furthercomprising hosting a database of information related to a plurality ofproducts or services, and wherein the recommended at least one productor service is selected from the plurality of products and services.
 8. Acomputer-readable media as defined in claim 7, wherein the database ofinformation related to a plurality of products or services is hosted bya retail establishment.
 9. A computer-readable media as defined in claim1, further comprising hosting a database of information regarding anaccount manager and associating the personal shopper with the accountmanager.
 10. A computer-readable media as defined in claim 1, furthercomprising providing a user interface having graphical user interfaceelements adapted for display on the computing device to allow thecustomer and the personal shopper the ability to discuss the recommendedproduct or service.
 11. A computer-readable media as defined in claim10, wherein the ability to discuss the recommended product or service isprovided through at least one of voice, text, email, or video.
 12. Acomputer-readable media as defined in claim 10, wherein the ability todiscuss the recommended product or service further comprises the abilityto share at least one of the customer's or the personal shopper'sbrowsing of a network connection.
 13. A computer-readable media asdefined in claim 12, wherein the network connection is a connection tothe Internet.
 14. A computer-readable media as defined in claim 1,wherein a plurality of customers may be associated with a personalshopper.
 15. A computer-readable media as defined in claim 14, furthercomprising providing a user interface having graphical user interfaceelements adapted for display on the computing device to allow thepersonal shopper to communicate directly with at least one of theplurality of customers.
 16. A computer-readable media as defined inclaim 14, further comprising providing a user interface having graphicaluser interface elements adapted for display on the computing device todisplay information regarding a customer's personal information.
 17. Acomputer-readable media as defined in claim 16, wherein the customer'spersonal information is provided by the customer.
 18. A compute-readablemedia as defined in claim 16, wherein the customer's personalinformation is provided by data mining.
 19. A computer-readable media asdefined in claim 1, wherein a customer may be associated with aplurality of personal shoppers.
 20. A computer-readable media as definedin claim 1, wherein the computing device is at least one of a personalcomputer, a mainframe computer, a personal-digital assistant (“PDA”), acellular telephone, a mobile device, a tablet, or an ereader.
 21. Acomputer-readable media as defined in claim 1, wherein the personalshopper is provided with the ability to cull an established contact listto associate the customer with the personal shopper.
 22. Acomputer-readable media as defined in claim 1, wherein associating thecustomer with the personal shopper is performed only upon authorizationby both the customer and the personal shopper.
 23. A computer-readablemedia as defined in claim 1, further comprising a plurality of personalshoppers each associated with at leas one customer.
 24. Acomputer-readable media as defined in claim 23, further comprisinghosting a database indicative of the rewards to each of the personalshoppers.
 25. A computer-readable media as defined in claim 24, furthercomprising comparing the rewards to each of the personal shoppers.
 26. Acomputer-readable media as defined in claim 25, further comprisingproviding an additional reward to at least one of the plurality ofpersonal shoppers based upon the comparison of the rewards to each ofthe personal shoppers. determining the location of the customer furthercomprises receiving an identification of the customer location from thecomputing device.
 27. A computer-readable media as defined in claim 1,wherein the association of the customer and the personal shopper isbased in part through a comparison of a customer provided location and apersonal shopper provided location.
 28. A computer-readable media asdefined in claim 1, wherein the personal shopper is an employee of aretail establishment.
 29. A computer-readable media as defined in claim1, wherein the customer requests the association with the personalshopper.
 30. A computer-readable media as defined in claim 29, furthercomprising providing a user interface having graphical user interfaceelements adapted for display on the computing device to allow thecustomer to originate the association request.
 31. A computer-readablemedia as defined in claim 1, wherein the personal shopper requests theassociation with the customer.
 32. A computer-readable media as definedin claim 31, further comprising providing a user interface havinggraphical user interface elements adapted for display on the computingdevice to allow the personal shopper to originate the associationrequest.
 33. A computer-readable media as defined in claim 1, furthercomprising hosting a database of information regarding inventory, andwherein the recommendation by the personal shopper is selected from aproduct or service included in the inventory information.
 34. Acomputer-readable media as defined in claim 33, wherein the inventoryinformation comprises at least one of new inventory, sale inventory,clearance inventory, or promotion inventory.
 35. A computer-readablemedia as defined in claim 33, wherein the inventory information ispersonalized based upon the information regarding the customer.
 36. Acomputer-readable media as defined in claim 1, further comprisingproviding a user interface having graphical user interface elementsadapted for display on the computing device to allow the customer toprovide information regarding purchase intent.